There is a current lack of rapid, accurate, and sensitive methods for identifying and detecting virulent or antibiotic resistant bacteria in biological or food samples. Immunological methods such as immunomagnetic separation (IMS) and latex agglutination are rapid and easy to perform for the detection of such bacteria. However, manufacturing kits useful for detection requires high quality antibodies and reagents. Further, commercially available differential agar media used for the isolation of virulent or antibiotic resistant bacteria suffer from their inability to differentiate pathogenic or antibiotic resistant bacteria from non-pathogenic bacteria in mixed bacterial samples. Molecular methods, such as TaqMan™ real-time PCR are specific as well as sensitive methods for the detection of specific species or strains of bacteria, but these methods rely on specific fluorescent probes, which are not only costly but degrade rapidly during long storage. Therefore, new methods are needed for detecting and distinguishing between individual bacterial species.